TOPEKA, Kan. (KSNT) – CoreFirst Bank customers could start breathing a sigh of reflief Tuesday night, nine hours after a break in a fiber optic line disrupted the company’s computer based applications.

CoreFirst Bank President Kurt Kuta tells Kansas First News full service was restored just before 8:30 p.m. Tuesday night after the cut impacted its ATM, credit and debit card transactions. The cut forced the bank to operate on account balances as of close of business Monday.

“We’ve not been hacked,” Kuta says “but the fiber optic cut has caused some very serious problems and we’ve had to come up with some work-arounds.”

The disruption affected all CoreFirst’s Topeka area branches as well as branches in Manhattan, Johnson County, Emporia and Denver, Colorado – all of which are tied into the Topeka-based servers.

When asked how many customers are affected by the disruption Kuta replied “thousands, all of them”.

Kuta says the cut disrupted access to the company’s website and mobile applications and the bank was not been able to work on “real time” balances.

“If someone made a deposit after the cut occurred,” Kuta explained earlier in the day “the transaction is recorded in one part of our server but it can’t be seen in those parts most frequently used by our customers.”

Kuta says for that reason, the bank was working off account balances as of close of business Monday afternoon. If, for example, a customer had a $500 balance at 5:00 p.m. Monday then made a $500 deposit late Tuesday morning, the system would only show a $500 balance available for ATM, credit or debit card transactions.

“No one has lost any money, no money is missing,” Kuta reassures bank customers, “we just have to wait for the system to catch up with itself.”

“We’re keeping our customer service folks updated on the situation,” adds Kuta “and if anyone has a question they can call us at (785) 267-8900.